I do sound awfully grinchy I know, but I love Autumn decorations and when H-Day is over, I'd prefer just some pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, beautiful colored leaves. I just am done with the spiders and ghoulies etc!

And yes, I agree with David about your front entry - lovely and serene and welcoming!_________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

Have you noticed in the Bay area that there's nothing of Thanksgiving in evidence? Our stores went directly from Halloween to Christmas.

I have Halloween and Christmas things aplenty. But for Thanksgiving I usually use some fresh foliage wreath or something and I'm just not finding it.

I'd gather handfuls of something and put something together but we don't get the beautiful colors of fall. Our stuff goes directly to brown and dry._________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Judy has fair reason to resist trick-or-treating! Junk mail and television, trying to impose/invent/inject a foreign tradition--aaagh! I've tried and tried to think of a comparable situation that has happened to us in the USA--but I can't.
A LARGE rat trap with big real-looking plastic rat, neck snapped by cruel spring, was right there on my doormat--you must come verrry close if you wish to knock on the door--
I raked fallen leaves from the backyard and covered the floor of the room where I greeted the kids--ankle deep--
We don't get many kids, but I do enjoy creating an atmosphere for them!

It's also fun to spritz the kids with fragrance (with permission of course)--
chocolate, licorice, extreme grape or bubble gum, any fruit--all available through craft/candle-making supply places.
Our dog Max is wary but absolutely steady when poked in the eye or held by the nose--as long as the toucher is no taller than he!

That is SO right about moving directly from Halloween to Christmas! So many stores already have their trees up - thankfully no seasonal music yet, but it can't be far behind. I agree totally about the decorations having a short shelf life. Once Halloween is over, it is OVER.

Rainey, on November 1, up goes the Indian Corn (sorry...Door Corn...my best friend and I decided the former was less politically correct than we were comfortable with...) on my front door. Three ears tied together with a charming minicheck ribbon in rust & tan. It's an old colonial symbol for harvest hospitality and bridges the Halloween-Christmas gap nicely, especially with a few small pumpkins on the doorstep. Would be lovely in your entryway.

Well I have to admit I have seen a small portion of Thanksgiving decorations in dollar stores. Most Halloween stuff can be re-used if it involves pumpkins. We also get those leaf wreaths for the table top decorations. Especially since we are dinner hosts...have to have the house in spirit!

Well, one thing you Americans don't have after All Hallows Eve is the Bonfire Night on November 5th. We have it to 'celebrate' Guido Fawkes and his fellow conspirators trying to blow up Parliament when the King was due to address the politicians. Hence the old rhyme;

Remember, remember,
The 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot!

Guido or Guy is usually burned as an effigy on top of the bonfire or was when I was younger. He and his fellows had placed several barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath Parliament and were primed to set the fuse and leg it out of there when they were discovered and arrested. Since then, we Brits celebrate on the 5th of November. Any leftover fireworks are then set off too in grand displays.

They needn't have bothered, a couple of centuries later, Parliament burned down and a new one, the Victorian Gothic confection we have now, was designed (by Charles Barry and AWN Pugin) and built. It has stood there since then._________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

My schoolmate living in Queensland threw a costume bash for her kids top honor the pursuit of lollies events, but had to improvise and used melons and fruits to carve instead of pumpkins. Made a nice fruit salad, but I'll bet it was a mess to dish out when kids came to the door!_________________There is only one way to die- With a full stomach and a good tan.

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:23 pm Post subject:

I'm not huge into Halloween itself, but I love going to the pumpkin patch. We try and choose some dark and miserable day, bundle up and tromp around the pumpkin patch in pursuit of the perfect cinderella pumpkin and return home for pumpkin bread and brandied cider. Always a good day.

Macy's in downtown Seattle was decorated for Christmas at the beginning of October. I love the holidays, but it seems they are intent on sucking all of the feeling out of them._________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

I actually love Halloween. I love seeing the kids come around in their costumes. My only disappointment is that I live on a dead end street so I don't get as many as as the people who live on the main street. Of course I grew up with Halloween, so it doesn't feel culturally imposed. In fact, here in the U.S. Halloween is threatened to some degree. There is a perception-- actually untrue-- that trick or treating is less safe than it used to be. Actually I found out that the stories of children being given poisoned candy are all urban legends. The only children to die from Halloween candy were poisoned by their uncle. Also in schools it is becoming culturally sensitive to celebrate Halloween, because some people believe it to be a religious holiday. I understand that in some countries it is being imposed by retailers who want to sell candy and pre-made costumes. People can imagine what I think of that-- being the crank who won't even eat convenience food. However, this is the weird twist to the story. I am overweight and have an addictive relationship with sweets in my opinion. I give really disgusting, artificially colored and flavored sweets to the kids, like those swizzle sticks filled with colored powder, bubble gum, and neon flavored lollypops. I feel guilty even as I write this, and I imagine all of the parents looking through their kids' bags and wincing as they see the disgusting artificial stuff I have given their kids! However, if I get the nice stuff, like the tiny chocolate bars, I will walk through the kitchen 20 times a day and eat the leftovers. However, I refuse to touch the colored stuff and just throw away the leftovers. Am I evil or what? The kids seem thrilled to get the stuff their parents probably refuse to buy for them because it is too trashy. On second thought-- no wonder I don't get more trick or treaters. Tomorrow is trash day in my neighborhood, and all of the left-over artificially colored sweets are in my trash can waiting to be picked up!

Doryh all due respect, giving trash, what I call those treats, is not leaading children how to eat well. I give out apples and tangerines, things most parents don;t feedthem._________________Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly
..................................MFK Fisher